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Many young boys growing up in the 50s had two heroes: Davy Crockett
and Zorro (both courtesy of the Wonderful World Of Disney). If you
remember the story of Zorro, part of his mystery was that he wore a
mask and created a false persona to cover his activities for the good
of others. Most of the time Zorro was the somewhat delicate, timid
Don Diego—a front to cover his identity as the swashbuckling hero of
the victims of wicked villains. In order not to blow his cover, he
wore a mask when he was Zorro.
In the Bible there is a Greek word that means
“to hide behind a mask,” but it is not a word that has noble
connotations. It is the word hupokrites, from which we get our
English word hypocrite. In ancient times it spoke of actors who
displayed changes of emotion by changing the masks they held in front
of their faces. What they portrayed was ultimately unrelated to who
they were—for their real self was hidden by a mask.
The issue of masked men (and women) lies
behind one of the most common reasons for rejecting Christ and the
church. We’ve all heard the criticism, “Church people are hypocrites.
They pretend that they’re wonderful, kind, and loving people, but
they really aren’t.” Those who claim to be followers of Christ are
accused of saying one thing and living another. Their religious
declarations are thought by many to be merely a false face, a mask to
hide behind so others don’t see them as they really are: bigoted,
narrow, mean, and self-centered.
Here are a few classic statements about this
supposed hypocrisy:
“Every Stoic was a Stoic, but in Christendom
where is the Christian?” (Ralph Waldo Emerson).
“In truth there was only one Christian, and he
died on a cross” (Friedrich Nietzsche).
“Christianity might be a good thing if anyone
ever tried it” (George Bernard Shaw).
An American T-shirt says, “Jesus, save me from
Your followers.”
Are the charges true? Sadly, far too often the
answer is yes. The people of Christ all fall short of their ideals.
Their walk doesn’t consistently match their talk. And this does have
a profoundly damaging impact on those who are watching and wondering
if Jesus has anything genuinely good to offer.
It’s important, therefore, to look honestly at
some misconceptions about the church—and try to set the record
straight.
WHAT THE CHURCH IS NOT
No one in the church is perfect. Notice the
words of one of the most influential leaders of the early church. It
was the apostle Paul who wrote:
Not that I have already attained, or am
already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for
which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me (Phil. 3:12).
Paul’s words remind us that followers of
Christ are not attainers; they are becomers. No one achieves
perfection in this life. At best, people of the church seek to keep
growing spiritually while, as Paul wrote, “being confident of this
very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it
until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6).
Not everyone in the church is a believer.
Observers of the church need to understand the difference between the
church as a social institution and the church as the true “body of
Christ.” People have all sorts of different motives for attaching
themselves to the church without personally accepting the truth about
Jesus Christ for themselves. Some do so for family or business
reasons. Some use the church as a cover for their sin, with no
intention of embracing the forgiveness and life-changing love of
Christ.
This was true even among Christ’s disciples:
Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you,
the twelve, and one of you is a devil?” (Jn. 6:70).
No one in the church is as good as Christ. The
best examples of the church still fall far short of the goodness
demonstrated by Jesus. Once again we find such honest disclosure in
the apostle who wrote so much of the New Testament. In his letter to
the church at Rome, the apostle Paul admitted:
For the good that I will to do, I do not do;
but the evil I will not to do, that I practice (Rom. 7:19).
The implication is clear. On the inside at
least, followers of Christ still battle with selfish desires,
temptation, and their own failure to be what they want to be.
The church needs to honestly say to the
watching world, “You are right. The followers of Christ all fall far
short of the example of their Lord.” Yet, as we’ve seen, these
patterns of inconsistency are what the Bible teaches us to expect.
WHAT THE CHURCH IS
A common bumper sticker says, “Christians
aren’t perfect—just forgiven.” The true church is made up of people
who have come to faith in Jesus Christ—those who are “believers.”
John 1:12 says: As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to
become children of God, to those who believe in His name.
True followers of Christ are marked by what
they believe about themselves and their Savior. Throughout their
lives, they entrust themselves to One who has done for them what they
could never do for themselves. While having every reason to want to
live with the attitudes of Christ, they depend on His willingness to
qualify them for acceptance with God.
Those who believe in Christ are on a journey
of personal growth that is meant to last a lifetime. At best they
live out their years learning from the Bible, from the Spirit of God
who lives within them, and from other spiritually mature people who
have discovered for themselves what it means to rely on Christ.
We must continually remember that no living
follower of Christ has arrived. All are “on the road,” healthy or
unhealthy, and with more or less of a desire to experience the
difference that the Spirit of Christ wants to make in their lives.
Believers are people who have found
forgiveness and hope in a sinful world. At their best, the people of
the church are not super-spiritual. They certainly are not
super-deserving. They are simply rescued people. When they are
healthy, they live with the attitude of the apostle Paul, who wrote:
Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified
us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. He has
delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the
kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through
His blood, the forgiveness of sins (Col. 1:12-14).
At one time, followers of Christ had felt
guilt; now they understand the joy of being forgiven. Once they felt
lost; now they know they’ve been found. Once they felt fear of death;
now they know peace. Why? Not because of their efforts, but because
they had been rescued by Jesus Christ.
Believers are people who are imperfect
representatives of Christ. C. S. Lewis wrote these helpful words:
Take the case of a sour old maid, who is a
Christian, but cantankerous. On the other hand, take some pleasant
and popular fellow, but who has never been to church. Who knows how
much more cantankerous the old maid might be if she were not a
Christian, and how much more likeable the nice fellow might be if he
were a Christian. You can’t judge Christianity simply by comparing
the product in these two people; you would also need to know what
kind of raw material Christ was working on in both cases (God In The Dock,
p.59).
WHAT THE CHURCH IS OFFERING US
Those who are wondering whether there is
anything for them in the teachings and offers of Christ may find bad
experiences with church people a difficult obstacle to get over. They
may also wonder whether they’ve been too bad to be forgiven. But none
of us can afford to let the personal failures of others or ourselves
ruin our future.
The Founder of the church does not make offers
based on what others have or haven’t done, but on what He Himself has
done for us.
The apostle Paul explained what Jesus did for
us in these words:
He [God the Father] made Him who knew no sin
[Christ] to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of
God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21).
The Founder of the church does not make offers
based on what we have or haven’t done for ourselves, but on what He
Himself has done. As the Bible says to those who have already
received Christ:
By grace you have been saved through faith,
and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest
anyone should boast (Eph. 2:8-9).
The Founder of the church doesn’t just promise
hope beyond the grave, He offers new life now:
If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;
old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new (2
Cor. 5:17).
Trusting the Founder of the church opens the
door to an eternal life where no one will be disappointed:
For God so loved the world that He gave His
only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but
have everlasting life (Jn. 3:16).
Curtis
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